• 6 Storyboard selections (ability to choose the script of
the storyboard)

• Gallery of 20 Satanic Drawings

•
Two trailers in SD (1:49 + :44)

• Trailer for The Eye (2:10 in HD!)

Bitrate:

Description: Dean Corso is highly skilled at his work, a
position which requires dexterity, cultural expertise,
nerves of steel... and few scruples. Known for locating rare
books for wealthy collectors, Corso is hired by eminent
book-lover and scholar of demonology, Boris Balkan. Corson's
mission: to find the last two volumes of legendary manual of
satanic invocation "The Ninth Gates of the Shadow Kingdom,"
compare them Balkan's first volume, supposedly the only one
of its kind, and ascertain the authenticity of the series.
Corso accepts the challenge. From New York to Toledo, Paris
to Cintra, he immerses himself in a labyrinth full of
pitfalls and temptations, disturbing encounters, violence
and mysterious deaths. Protected by an angelic creature and
guided by a force more powerful than himself, Corso solves
one by one the mysteries of the dreaded Book and discovers
the real purpose of his mission.

The Film:

With a

devilish core akin to
Rosemary's Baby, Roman Polanski returns with "The Ninth Gate"
where an unscrupulous rare-book dealer named Dean Corso (Johnny Depp)
travels to Europe in search of two copies of "The Nine Gates of the
Kingdom of Shadows" - hinted as Lucifer's very own penned verses.
His client, Frank Langella, wants him to find the only true copy -
comparing it to the one in his possession. Sexual distractions arise in
the form of Lena Olin's garter-belted, and snake-tattooed, butt and
mystic Emmanuelle Seigner's (yes, Roman's real wife) eyes.

The ambiguous conclusion is less than satisfying but the suspenseful
build with creepy Euro-haunts keeps us intrigued. Polanski hints at
greatness but although he doesn't achieve - the ride is, somehow, worth
it. The Ninth Gate has moments of the director's uncanny stealth
and as a whole it's better than most critics will admit.

Technically-speaking the Lionsgate
Blu-rayappears quite strong with the film taking up almost
42 Gig and the video bitrate closing in on 35 Mbps.
Unfortunately, the image doesn't co-operate much and it
looks very underwhelming for most of the film. I actually
checked more than once to make sure it wasn't MPEG-2. The
frail quality exhibited in the beginning of the film slowly
dissipates and the outdoor sequences in Europe show the most
strength. I don't have evidence that it looked dissimilar
theatrically. Colors show a bit of life but the image seems
clouded without any texture. I don't suspect manipulations
but the
Blu-ray
exports a fairly mundane appearance. It is, however,
consistent and certainly vaults over SD-DVD.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

Many would
consider the
DTS-HD Master 7.1, at a whopping 4766 kbps, to have a leg up
above the visuals.
Considering the content though - it's not the most aggressive score with
only a few instances of active separation (the collapsing scaffolds and
the train as 2 examples). This may be at the crux of
why the film doesn't work for some people. The film's audio doesn't
export all the creepy atmospheric subtleties typical of, and often
overused by, the genre. Wojciech Kilar's classical-infused original
score works well as his efforts did with Polanski's
Death and the Maiden (an unjustly underrated film, btw). There
are only English or Spanish subtitle choices and my Momitsuhas identified
it as being a region FREE disc playable on
Blu-ray
machines worldwide.

Extras :

S

upplements
include a decent commentary from Polanski who admits that he finds it
strange re-watching one of his films, while sitting in his office, a
year after completing it - something he rarely would do. I always like
listening to him - he brings up production details that only a man in
his position could relate.
Aside from that there is nothing really appealing about the extras. We
have a promo featurette that runs just over 2 measly minutes, an
interesting inclusion of 6 storyboard selections with the ability to
choose looking at the script or the drawn capture itself. The gallery of
20 Satanic drawings looks to be right from the book used in the film.
There are two SD trailers in SD and one for 'The Eye' in HD.

BOTTOM LINE: I don't dislike The Ninth Gate as others seem to. Perhaps
the expectations of a Polanski horror unfairly biased
people's opinion. This is certainly no masterpiece but this,
my third viewing, was still enjoyable. Depp is his usual
excellent self and the Arturo Perez-Reverte story builds
well. Anyway, I could still find lots of things to like
about it - weak Polanski is still worth a spin or two.
The
Blu-ray is imperfect but for less than $14 - and including the Polanski
commentary - gives it great value. Yes, at this price we
recommend!

Gary Tooze

July 28th, 2009

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 7500
DVDs and have reviewed over 3000 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.